MARLBORO — Marlboro Music's opening weekend of concerts on Saturday, July 14, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, July 15, at 2:30 p.m., will offer varied programs with piano, strings, woodwinds, and voice with 23 resident artists sharing their discoveries in a handful of the 65 works that have been explored in depth for the first three weeks of this season.
It was at Marlboro that the concept was born of a distinguished older artist playing together with, rather than coaching, exceptional young professional musicians, according to a news release.
Pianists Jonathan Biss and Cynthia Raim and members of such ensembles as the Guarneri, Johannes, and Pro Arte String Quartets will be joined by their younger colleagues in works by Beethoven, Copland, Mozart, Nielsen, Schubert, and Schumann with vocal program pianist Lydia Brown offering the rarely-heard Schumann Spanisches Liederspiel, Op. 74 with Kristina Bachrach, soprano; Kara Dugan, mezzo-soprano; Miles Mykkanen, tenor; and Simon Barrad, baritone on Sunday's concert.
Schumann, who experimented with different dramatic forms, used texts that were mainly adaptations of anonymous Spanish poems. While this 10-part cycle didn't receive the recognition from the public for which he had hoped, the duet In der Nacht has become a recital favorite.
The Saturday, July 14, concert will open with the Mozart Piano Trio in B-flat , K. 502 with pianist János Palojtay, violinist Eunice Kim, and cellist Peter Stumpf of the Johannes Quartet.
The seldom-performed Copland Quartet for Piano and Strings received its premiere in Washington, D.C., in 1950 and earned high praise from many composers. By then, Copland thought the public was ready for more “modern” music than his “American” music, but it was the latter that remained his most popular repertoire.
The Marlboro performance will have received 24 hours of rehearsal. The program closes with the Schumann Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 63 with pianist Andrew Hsu, violinist Soovin Kim of the Johannes Quartet, and cellist Brannon Cho.
The Sunday, July 15, concert will open with the Beethoven Clarinet Trio in B-flat, Op. 11 with Raim, clarinetist Bixby Kennedy, and cellist Peter Wiley of the Guarneri Quartet, who first participated at Marlboro in 1971 when he was 16.
Closing the first half will be the Schubert Fantasia in F Minor, D. 940 with Evren Ozel and Jonathan Biss, and the Nielsen Serenata in vano for clarinet, bassoon, horn, cello, and double bass - its theme being an attempt to serenade a lady that proves to be totally unsuccessful.